Floyd Mayweather’s rematch with Manny Pacquiao will seemingly go ahead in September, despite the American boxer casting doubt upon the fight.

In February, it was announced that Mayweather vs Pacquiao 2 would take place at the Sphere in Las Vegas on 19 September, 11 years after the boxing icons first clashed.

It was also confirmed that the Netflix bout would be a professional contest, not an exhibition, with Mayweather putting his unbeaten record (50-0, 27 KOs) on the line against his rival, whom he outpointed in Vegas in 2015.

Yet Mayweather, 49, cast doubt upon the rematch last week, saying at a meet and greet: “We don’t know the location of the fight. The Sphere is one of the places that they talked about. So, we don’t know if it’s 100 per cent going to be there. And this is not actually a fight. It’s an exhibition.”

Now, however, the CEO of Manny Pacquiao Promotions has fired back while speaking to ESPN.

Jas Mathur said: “As of right now, the fight is still on. There is no termination of any sort, and he has signed for a professional fight.”

Mathur even accused Mayweather of being “officially in breach of his contract”, saying: “He’s been in a breach since the day he went out and said what he said on Saturday, and he’s officially in a breach as of yesterday.

“Floyd Mayweather signed not one, not two, but three different agreements on three different dates with two different parties that ultimately got intertwined in the month of January. And this is all related to his return to professional boxing.

“First one was on 24 October, the second one was on 6 November, third one was on 14 December. He received money for all three agreements when he signed them. Not only that, but he’s also taken out an advance on his purse for his fight against Pacquiao.

“No one in these last three months has brought up anything related to the venue or related to the fight not being a professional fight. His team has had all the contracts, he signed all the contracts. We have the DocuSign proofs as well as wet signatures with his device ID, with his IP address, with everything there.

“If he’s scared of Manny and he does not want to put his record on the line in a professional boxing match, not only should he have never executed any of these agreements, but he should just come right out and say it, because Manny ain’t scared.”

The Independent has approached a representative of Mayweather for comment.

The American, a former five-weight world champion, has fought in numerous exhibition bouts since retiring from professional boxing in 2017. His final pro fight was a stoppage win over then-UFC champion Conor McGregor.

Meanwhile, Pacquiao actually returned to pro boxing last summer, fighting then-champion Mario Barrios to a draw in their WBC welterweight title bout. His previous pro fight was a 2021 loss to Yordenis Ugas. His pro record stands at 62-8-3 (39 KOs), and he remains the only eight-weight world champion in boxing history.

Pacquiao, 47, has also been heavily involved in politics in his home country, having served as a senator in the Philippines from 2016 until 2022, and having launched a failed presidential bid ahead of the 2022 election.